Poe on Recurring Holiday Power Outages in NAIA
June 9, 2023
Poe on Recurring Holiday Power Outages in NAIA
The most recent power outage in NAIA once again shows the need for urgent power augmentation while a full electrical audit is ongoing. Regardless of duration, power outages in the country's main gateway are enough to cause a domino effect of flight delays, passenger confusion, and reduced business.
Informal updates relayed by MIAA Administration point to a human error during the ongoing energy audit by contractor MSERV, a wholly-owned subsidiary of MERALCO.
The MIAA management must exercise technical oversight so these human errors are minimized. These series of power outages also happened during peak travel dates - New Year, Labor Day, and now the Independence Day Long Weekend - when the airport is packed with people. Nagkataon lang ba o sinasadya na?
During the May 1 power outage, DOTr said that the agency is already working with the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency and other authorities to explore the possibility of a sabotage. This report remains to be seen.
It also remains unclear why the electrical plan of NAIA Terminal 3, among other important building plan documents, has not been turned over by the contractor despite the government having already paid the just compensation.
In the interim, DOTr should look at adding generators and providing comfortable waiting areas to passengers especially to the elderly and those with medical conditions. Sa init din ng panahon ngayon, kasama dapat ang water at snacks sa care kits na agarang mabigay sa mga pasahero.
Even if NAIA's privatization is being explored, this is no excuse for airport officials to drop the ball. MIAA should implement proper maintenance and contingency plans to prevent any future outages and travel disruptions. There should be comprehensive responses for all emergency scenarios. Any audit or improvement needs to be planned ahead of time.
